My First Year with Hearing Loss and Tinnitus (Positive Story)

Hi, I've dealt with mild/moderate tinnitus for two months now (have only exposed my ears to loud sound exactly once for 30 minutes two years ago, so I guess I'm pretty unlucky since I know frequent concert goers that rarely use hearing protection and do not have any significant hearing problems) . This story was really inspiring to me; to think someone almost as young as me can live a normal life with tinnitus (I'm assuming yours is much worse than mine) and significant hearing loss is great to know. Like you, I was at first completely consumed by my tinnitus. I was in a very dark place for a month (which is very unlike me, since I've always been known as the crazy happy-go-lucky kid-at-heart guy by all my friends and family), giving up pretty much everything I was working on. Reading about it for 8 hours a day definitely did not help. Now I limit myself to only reading success stories and even then try not to think about it too much.

I've gone almost a whole day without noticing my T before (honestly the only reason I keep noticing it is because I think about so much). I'm hoping by month 6 I will have almost reached total habituation (or if I'm lucky, my T will disappear as magically as it came!).

Thanks for your effort in sharing your success here. I think these kind of posts are the most important. They are what kept me from completely abandoning my lifestyle.

Good luck with your future endeavors, Caff.

Best regards,

Andrew